NRCAT Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 27, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Citizens' Commission Issues Report on CIA Rendition Flights

WASHINGTON – Earlier today, the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture issued a report on its investigation into the role North Carolina-based Aero Contractors played in the CIA’s rendition flights – the flights it used to transfer prisoners overseas to be tortured in CIA facilities and by foreign countries.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released the following statement about the report:

“North Carolinians have shown us what can be accomplished by a group of citizens who dedicate themselves to investigating an unjust and illegal government program. While other reports have described the CIA’s torture flights, this report lays bare the raw inhumanity of Aero Contractor’s work to shuffle individuals between nations and facilities where they were tortured, as well as the degree of local government complicity in a federal government crime.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 18, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Faith Leaders Oppose Record Low Refugee Resettlement Goal

WASHINGTON, DC - On Monday, September 17, 2018, the Trump Administration announced an historic low cap on the number of refugees who will be allowed into the U.S. in the next year. The 30,000 cap is one-third lower than this year’s number, in a time of the worst refugee crisis in human history.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, made the following statement after Secretary Mike Pompeo’s announcement of the FY2019 cap on refugee admissions:

"President Trump is irreparably damaging this nation of immigrants by slamming the door in the face of people seeking safe harbor while fleeing torture, rape, terrorism, war and poverty. I pray that this Administration will find the heart to reverse this immoral decision to severely cut the number of refugees that our country will admit."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 29, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WASHINGTON, DC - One of the largest faith denominations in the U.S. has joined the growing consensus to end the use of prolonged solitary confinement in the United States, including at immigration detention centers, private prisons, and military jurisdictions. The Episcopal Church’s historic resolutions, passed during the 79th General Convention in July in Austin, TX, echoes the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as “The Mandela Rules,” revised by the United Nations in 2015. The General Convention resolution, D029 Condemning Prolonged Solitary Confinement as a Form of Torture, calls on all Episcopalians to amplify their voice in solidarity with human rights groups and others to end this practice.

Rebecca Linder Blachly, Director of the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations, said about the resolution:

"The Episcopal Church has had a longstanding opposition to all forms of torture, including prolonged solitary confinement. The Resolution which the 79th General Convention recently passed (D029 Condemning Prolonged Solitary Confinement as a Form of Torture) reinvigorates our Church’s commitment to ending this damaging and inhumane practice, encouraging Episcopalians to urge their governments to seek alternatives to isolated confinement. We are grateful to NRCAT for their leadership and education on solitary confinement.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 6, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

People of Faith Express Serious Concerns Over Proposals that Roll Back APA Reforms on Torture

WASHINGTON, DC – On Monday, August 6, Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, sent a letter to American Pyschological Association (APA) leadership expressing the concerns of the U.S. faith community over two proposals, NBI 35B and NBI 13D, that would roll back APA reforms on torture.

In the letter, Rev. Stief writes:

"In such a context [the torture and indefinite detention of U.S.-held detainees at Guantanamo], military and other government psychologists cannot be seen as acting wholly independently of the government's interests – a fact that undermines the very basis of effective, ethical treatment."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 17, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

National Faith Group Condemns Senate Confirmation of Gina Haspel to Direct CIA

WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, May 17, with a 54-45 vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed known torturer, Gina Haspel, to be the next CIA Director. Gina Haspel supervised waterboarding and other torture at the CIA black site in Thailand. She was also wrote the memo ordering the destruction of the videotaped evidence of torture before Members of Congress were able to review the tapes, and, when asked by four different Senators during her confirmation hearing, she consistently refused to say that torture is immoral.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said this about vote:

"In a new low, the U.S. Senate today confirmed a known torturer to a Cabinet-level position in the U.S. government. While Ms. Haspel was forced to say that she would never restart the CIA's torture program, she nevertheless refused repeated requests to say that torture is immoral. This is a good day for tyrants, dictators, and others who abuse human rights. This is a bad day for anyone who cares about reining in this President, and others in his Administration, who have no moral hesitation around torturing another human being."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 9, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Haspel: A Moral Compass that Spins in Circles Around Torture

WASHINGTON, DC – During her hearing on Wednesday, May 9, CIA Director nominee, Gina Haspel, claimed to have a "strong moral compass" yet, when asked repeatedly by Senators Warner, Heinrich, Harris, and Reed, not once was she able to say that the CIA's torture program was immoral.

Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, responded to Ms. Haspel's moral confusion by saying:

"Ms. Haspel argued that the program was legal, she suggested that Congress had adopted the Army Field Manual as a 'stricter' moral standard, and she even suggested that waterboarding was inhumane if done by a terrorist but not if done by the CIA. She was never, though, able to say that waterboarding or any other act of torture was immoral. Ms. Haspel has conflated law with morality and seems to have a moral compass that is spinning in circles. Being unable to say that torture is immoral shows that she lacks the character necessary to stand up to the President and be an independent, moral CIA Director."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 8, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Faith Organizations
Oppose Haspel Nomination Based on Her Record on Torture

WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, May 8, letters from national Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish organizations opposing Gina Haspel's nomination to be CIA Director because of her record on torture were delivered to the offices of all U.S. Senators.

Representing 30 million church members in 38 denominations with over 100,000 local congregations, Jim Winkler, the President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches wrote: "Confirming Haspel will be widely understood as a message that the U.S. accepts torture and it will be used by tyrants and dictators to justify both torture and a legion of other human rights abuses...I pray that you and your colleagues will consider the deep cost of promoting someone who supervised torture to be the CIA Director and will ultimately choose to oppose this nomination." For the full text of the letter, see http://www.nrcat.org/ncc-letter-haspel-nomination

Eight different national Catholic organizations also weighed in, writing that "using basic moral standards for human dignity disqualifies her [Haspel] from leading the agency" and that confirming Haspel "would also be understood as a message of support for torture by our President – who has repeatedly stated his personal interest in restarting the torture program." They also noted that if Haspel is confirmed, "American Catholic pastoral and humanitarian aid workers would be distrusted and endangered." For the full text of the letter, see http://www.nrcat.org/catholic-letter-on-haspel-nomination

In a letter signed by over 200 Rabbis, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights wrote "a vote to confirm her [Haspel] is incompatible with any kind of meaningful commitment to the prohibition on torture and so-called 'enhanced interrogation.'" It follows by saying: "As Jews, we believe that every human being is created in God's image. This assertion applies to all people, friend or enemy. The shame and humiliation caused by torture degrade the divine spark inherent in each of us. Furthermore, the Torah commands not to inflict punishments that degrade the perpetrator." For the full text of the letter, see http://www.nrcat.org/truah-letter-haspel-nomination

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, (202) 547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Faith Coalition Opposes the Corker-Kaine Expansion of Presidential War Powers in AUMF

WASHINGTON, DC –Senators Corker, Kaine, Flake, Coons, Young, and Nelson introduced a bill today that would remove almost all limits on the President's authority to use military force. In particular, it would authorize this and any future President to use force in any country, at any time, against any group he or she claimed was affiliated with ISIS, Al Qaeda, or the Taliban. The bill also mandates that Congress can only limit the President's ability to order the use of force with a 2/3 vote in both the House and Senate.

In response to this proposal, Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, released the following statement:

"Giving

the President virtually unlimited war powers is a congressional dereliction of duty. Our founders took the impact of war seriously and provided Congress, not the President, with the authority to declare war. During these dangerous times, these six Senators propose to abandon their Constitutional obligation to keep the authority for declaring war in the hands of the American people. We call on Congress to stand up for American values and against perpetual war by rejecting this immoral and unconstitutional bill."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 13, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, (202) 547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Faith Coalition Condemns Nomination of Haspel for CIA, Citing Past Record on Torture

WASHINGTON, DC - With news that President Trump plans to nominate CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel to replace Mike Pompeo as CIA Director, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) reiterates its call for no new government jobs for torturers. Rev. Ron Stief, Executive Director, said:

"NRCAT calls on the U.S. Senate to block the nomination of Gina Haspel to the position of CIA Director. It is morally repugnant that a former head of a CIA torture site who helped destroy videotaped evidence of torture would be elevated to the role of CIA Director. Haspel cannot be trusted to follow the law, nor represent our country's fundamental values of ethical government and transparency."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 7, 2018
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, (202) 547-1920 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Faith Coalition Joins Other NGOS to Express Concern Over Trump Admin Use of Armed Drones

WASHINGTON, DC - In a statement released today, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) and several other NGOs expressed deep concerns regarding the Trump Administration's use of armed drones and other lethal force. Reports indicate that current Trump Administration policy is likely to lead to more civilian deaths and more killing. The groups recommend that all use of lethal force, including the use of armed drones, respect international law and that polices for the use of lethal force be transparent and subject to democratic accountability. The groups also recommend that there be full investigations, accountability and redress for civilian casualties, and that the international community refuse to support any illegal use of force.